There were many reactions to NIU President John La Tourette’s midyear address Tuesday and all were positive.

One of the measures outlined in the speech was for the establishment of a committee which could review potential cuts the university could make “in order to generate a significant pool of funds over a two-year period.”

La Tourette said, “This committee would be drawn from existing bodies which deal with university-wide budgeting.”

SA President Preston Came said he felt it was very important that students be involved in the decision-making process.

Came said the president had contacted him about student representation on the committee but that the details of representation had not been worked out.

Came added that he was “glad to see the president being pro-active in handing the budget situation.”

Regency Professor, division of Public Administration William Monat said he felt academics were adequately protected from the budget recisions of the past year.

Monat said he felt the president clearly stated that resources would be focused on what is most important to the academic mission of the university and that research at NIU will not suffer because it is part of that mission.

“I don’t think you retreat from research or scholarship. If you do stop (research), then you’ve got a pretty slackly academic program,” Monat said.

Dean James Norris of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences agreed. “You can’t separate research from teaching, we do both. How can I tell you to come here and learn if I stop learning?”

Norris said with talk of “increase productivity and of streamlining the university, the Chancellor’s Office must be looked at, it’s gotten huge.”